As you well know, the effects of this pandemic are being felt near and far, including in Rwanda. As of the end of the day yesterday (April 15), there were 136 known cases of COVID-19 in Rwanda and, thankfully, no deaths. The country remains mostly shutdown as they continue to track contacts of the infected persons and hope to contain any further outbreak of the disease as a surge in infections could easily overwhelm the healthcare system. This change in mobility and work opportunity and continuing education is challenging but hopefully has the desired result of minimizing the spread of the virus and preventing loss of life.
This "new normal" in Rwanda is not unlike what is happening in much of our country (U.S.) and other parts of the world and so we see ourselves in solidarity in some ways with those in Rwanda. Unfortunately, many of the vulnerable families we work with are impacted with even greater need in these days when day-labor jobs are not available and all of the kids are home from boarding school. While our original annual budget did not have funds allocated for pandemic relief efforts (who could have known!?), we felt that this situation compels us to support our families in additional ways when so much is uncertain. The past two weekends, we have been able to have a distribution of rice, corn flour (kawunga), beans, and a little bit of cash for other needs (cooking oil, charcoal, soap, etc.) for each of the families in our program. These will not cover all of their needs but are greatly appreciated and we hope to continue this distribution as we are able and there is a need! The local government has been assisting vulnerable families in some ways, too.
We hope that all will stay safe and healthy in these days as we hope for the pandemic-free days to come. We are grateful for ways of partnering to serve our neighbors in the world...always.
Turikumwe = we are together.
Pile of goodies just arrived from the local shop!
(l-r: Bag with paper bags inside, sacks of corn flour, sack of rice on top of sack of beans)
Items portioned out for each family to pick up.
Hand-washing station outside of the office.
Happy Mama (Speciose)!
**If you would like to make a special donation towards these extra support efforts, we would greatly appreciate it! You can do so here: http://urugocarerwanda.org/donate
THANK YOU!!!